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Post Cycle and Hormonal Support

SERMs, aromatase inhibitors and gonadotropins do three different jobs. They are routinely and wrongly treated as one category.

Post-cycle compounds act at three different points. SERMs such as tamoxifen and clomiphene block oestrogen receptors in the hypothalamus, raising LH and FSH output. Gonadotropins such as HCG and HMG bypass the pituitary entirely and act directly at the testes. Aromatase inhibitors reduce oestrogen production by inhibiting the enzyme that makes it.

Only the first two restart the axis. Aromatase inhibitors control oestrogen, which is a different job, and using one during recovery can be actively counterproductive because oestradiol has documented roles in bone density, lipids, joint comfort and libido.

Cabergoline sits here for a fourth reason again: it is a dopamine agonist that suppresses prolactin, which is relevant to the 19-nor compounds specifically because progestogenic activity is a documented feature of that class.

What to weigh up

Three mechanisms, not one category

SERM, AI and gonadotropin are not interchangeable and do not substitute for one another.

Clomiphene has two isomers

Zuclomiphene persists far longer than enclomiphene, which makes washout prolonged and less predictable.

Bloodwork is the only real feedback

Recovery is a numbers question. Symptoms alone cannot tell you whether the axis has restarted.

What you took determines recovery

19-nors and long esters are associated with slower recovery than short-ester testosterone.

Stocked for this goal

Go deeper

This page covers what serves the goal. For what each compound actually is - class, mechanism, half-life and storage - see the reference library.